Cinema's most dramatic disaster movies

'Airport' (1970)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Generally acknowledged as the originator of the 1970's disaster film genre, 'Airport', which stars Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin, was the first in the Airport series of movies.

'Gravity' (2013)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are the two astronauts stranded in space after debris strikes the Hubble Space Telescope and the space shuttle Explorer. The atmosphere is tense, the visual effects stunning, and the film is deserving of the accolades heaped upon it from numerous critics and guilds.

'The Rains Came' (1939)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

The fictional town of Ranchipur in India is devastated by an earthquake, which causes a flood, which causes a cholera epidemic, a triple whammy that underpins the film's central themes of romance and redemption. 'The Rains Came' became the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, at the 12th Academy Awards in 1940.

'Twister' (1996)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and an early film appearance by Philip Seymour Hoffman lend 'Twister' heavyweight acting talent. But it's the realistic visual effects that quite literally lift this movie off the ground.

'Contagion' (2011)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Released eight years before the COVID-19 pandemic, 'Contagion' eerily predicts the spread of a virus across the globe and the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread. Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, and Gwyneth Paltrow are among the artists imitating life.

'Deepwater Horizon' (2016)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, this movie dramatically recreates the hours leading up to and during the catastrophe, the worst oil disaster in US history. Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are two of the oilmen involved in the rescue operation.

'San Andreas' (2015)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

The Fault had it coming, and in this blockbuster it's Dwayne Johnson who saves the day after Los Angeles and San Francisco are devastated by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake.

'Deep Impact' (1998)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

An errant comet is on collision course with the Earth. The only way to stop it is to blow it to pieces. That means landing on its surface and planting a bomb. Sounds familiar? The similarly themed 'Armageddon' fared better at the box office, but the 'Deep Impact' plotline proved more plausible, with astronomers describing the film as scientifically accurate. Robert Duval, Elijah Wood, and Morgan Freeman are among the cast.

'Geostorm' (2017)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

When climate-controlling satellites malfunction the result, predictably, is the formation of a storm of epic proportions. Gerard Butler is the satellite designer who has to figure out why his mechanical orbiters went AWOL.

'Unstoppable' (2010)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

A near disaster is averted after Denzel Washington and Chris Pine manage to rein in a runaway freight train before it derails and crashes. 'Unstoppable' is based on the real-life CSX 8888 incident in 2001 when a locomotive pulling 47 cars, including some loaded with hazardous chemicals, ran uncontrolled on tracks in Ohio.

'Daylight' (1996)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Sylvester Stallone is the disgraced former New York City emergency first responder who leads a group of civilians trapped in a flooding tunnel to safety, but not before they encounter a series of life-threatening situations.

'Volcano' (1997)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

This time it's a huge lava flow that threatens Los Angeles, the result of an angry volcano erupting at the La Brea Tar Pits on the outskirts of the city. Geologist Amy Barnes (Anne Heche) believes a secondary volcano is forming under the city. Emergency responder Mike Roake (Tommy Lee Jones) hopes she's wrong.

'The Towering Inferno' (1974)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Paul Newman and Steve McQueen head the ensemble cast in what highly respected film critic Roger Ebert called "a brawny blockbuster of a movie, by far the best of the mid-1970s wave of disaster films." Indeed, 'The Towering Inferno' was the highest-grossing film of 1974.

'Earthquake' (1974)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

Also released in 1974, 'Earthquake' follows various Los Angeles residents in their efforts to survive the chaos and confusion visited upon Los Angeles after an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude strikes the city. Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and George Kennedy are among the survivors.

'Airport 75' (1974)

'Airport' (1970), 'Gravity' (2013), 'The Rains Came' (1939), 'Twister' (1996), 'Contagion' (2011), 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016), 'San Andreas' (2015), 'Deep Impact' (1998), 'Geostorm' (2017), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Daylight' (1996), 'Volcano' (1997), 'The Towering Inferno' (1974), 'Earthquake' (1974), 'Airport 75' (1974)

The first sequel to the successful 1970 film 'Airport,' this follow-up concerns the dramatic events aboard an airborne Boeing 747 when a small aircraft crashes into the cockpit, leaving no one on board to fly the plane. Charlton Heston takes the controls to save the day and help make the film one of the highest grossing of 1974.

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